The Herald-News from Passaic, New Jersey • 43

Pass the test or it's bye for NOW!" By MIKE BOTTA Herald-News Staff Writer If enough people watch "NOW!" now, Channel 4 says the program will become a regular series in the fall. "NOW!" is the title of a new programming effort by WNBC-TV which goes on trial in the New York area next week in the "prime time access" p.m. time slot. It's a magazine format which the station claims will focus on the "people, places, and events in the metropolitan Hosted by Hawaiian-born Dale Harimoto and Tom Fitzsimmons, "NOW!" sounds very much like WABC-TV's "YOU!" which premiered a year ago and may still be seen Saturdays at 7 p.m. on Channel 7.

In fact, even the program titles are similar, all capital letters followed closely by an exclamation point. AT ANY RATE, the venture does not mark Harimoto's local TV debut. Some may remember she spent some time as the Sunday night weather forecaster on WPIX-TV Channel 11. WNBC also Tom Fitzsimmons and Dale Harimoto. tells us she performed in the successful revival of "The King and served as a member of the Bruce King Dance Company and has been the theater critic for the French language newspaper Le Californien.

Fitzsimmons spent 10 years as a New York City cop and is currently writing a novel based on his experiences in the force. His twin brother, by the way, is still with the city police. Fitzsimmons' talents include acting, modeling, and cooking. Channel 4 is reported to be seriously considering the development of "NOW!" into a regular feature for the upcoming 1979-80 television season. Such a move would mark another significant departure from the norm of game shows and syndicated stuff during that lost half-hour before prime time begins.

Ever since the FCC placed chains around the ankles of network affiliates, shackling them to three hours of network prime time from 8-11 p.m., most of the stations have gobbled up every conceivable exercise in inanity possible for that 7:30 slot. To refresh memories, during the '60s, your basic network stations carried web fare straight through from the 7 p.m. news to 11 o'clock. The Feds decided such programming was not doing any public service to the local people, The final score's announced; NBC should play more games LOS ANGELES (AP) An estimated 18 million tuned in to the "50th Annual Baseball All-Star Game" July 17, giving NBC its first topranked show this year in the national Nielsen ratings. But the All-Star game and a "CHiPs" rerun at the No.

16 slot were NBC's only entries in the top 20 for the week that ended Sunday, and CBS remained top banana with an overall average of 14.7 in the ratings. tied for first in four of the CBS has finished or last five had 14.5 average for the weeks. ABC, continuing its ongoing week game while NBC trailed with 13.9. of tagalong, a The last time NBC had a No. 1 show was on Oct.

17, 1978, and it was also a baseball game, the final contest of the Dodgers- Yankees World Series. ALTHOUGH ABC had five of the top 10 shows six, if you count the tie between "Mork Mindy" and "Laverne Shirley" at the No. 10 position two CBS telecasts, the "Miss Universe Pageant" and a rerun of "The Jeffersons," took second and third place, respectively. The A.C. Nielsen Co.

bases its ratings on a survey in which each rating point represents about 750,000 homes. The ratings are used by networks to determine advertising rates. LAST WEEK'S TOP 10 shows and their ratings, as announced by Nielsen: Annual Baseball All-Star Game," 24.4 (NBC); 2, "Miss Universe Pageant," 22.7 (CBS); 3, "'The 20.7 (CBS); 4, "Three's Company," 20.7 (ABC); D-12 The Herald-News, Friday, July 27, 1979 therefore limits were set: No more than three consecutive hours of network television between the 7-11 time span. If "NOW!" works, it may start a whole new trend among the network owned-and-operated stations in New York. Then again, it may Air Fare The series will feature two major stories as well as shorter features each day.

Among locations to be visited during the first episode Monday: Studio 54, the Fulton Fish Market and the Bronx Zoo. O)DS and ENDS WOR-TV Channel 9 is not alone in its plans for all-night telecasting. Last week we reported the station plans 24-hour operation in the fall. This week, a high ranking official at WPIX-TV Channel 11 told us 24- hour programming is definitely in the picture, "and it could be as early as next week." While we doubt there will be any changes before the fall, the same official said Channel 11's all-night schedule will consist of off-network reruns, which could mean anything from "Get Smart" to "The F.B.I.," we suppose. "We're already on the air for 22-hours a day," he said, "and we have to keep the equipment going anyway, so it will be easy to fill in the remaining two hours." WTVG-TV CHANNEL 68 is going for the world record in call-letter changing.

Originally WBTB, the calls changed to WTVG when Wometco purchased the outfit from Blonder-Tongue Broadcasting little more than two years ago. As of August 8, the home of scrambled pictures, religious fanatics, strange languages and Floydian fodder, becomes WWHT. The call letters correspond to. Channel 68's Wometco Home Theater pay fare, now known simply as WHT. WNEW-TV CHANNEL 5 is working on another sports special, this one for airing Aug.

22. The halfhour show will explore the upcoming seasons for the Jets and Giants CHANNEL 5's fall schedule will include some of the following: "The Star Blazers," an animated show set for weekday afternoons; and "All in the Family," for early evening viewing and perhaps some late night stripping; "Kojak" at 11:30 p.m.; "The Bionic Woman," for Sunday late afternoon scheduling. A spokesman for Channel 5 said the schedule is still subject to revision. 5, "Fantasy Island," 19.7. (ABC); 6, "Alice," 19.2 (CBS); 7, "Taxi," 18.7 (ABC); 8, "Sunday Night Movie: 'War 18.6 (ABC); 9, "Dallas," 18.4 (CBS); 10, "Mork Mindy," 18.0 (ABC).

THE SECOND 10 for the week were: 11, "Laverne Shirley," 18.0 (ABC); 12, "'The Dukes of Hazzard," 17.9 (CBS); 13, "WKRP in Cincinnati," 17.8 (CBS); 14, 17.5 (ABC); 15, "One Day at a Time," 17.4 (CBS); 16, "CHiPs," 17.1 (NBC); 17, "All in the Family," 17.0 (CBS); 18, "Charlie's Angels," 16.9 (ABC); 19, "13 Queens 16.7 (ABC); 20, "'M-A-S- 16.5 (CBS). AT THE BOTTOM end of the ratings were three ABC reruns: "Operation Petticoat," with a 6.7 rating; "Hardy Boys Mysteries," 6.3; and "Battlestar Galactica," which finished 60th with a 6.1 rating. THE REST OF the bottom 10: 51, "Friday Night Movie: 'Reincarnation of Peter 10.0 (ABC); 52, "'The Lovebirds," 9.3 (CBS); 53, "'The Paper Chase," 9.2 (CBS); 54, "Good Times," 9.1 (CBS); 55, "'NBC Special Report: The Day They Landed," 9.1 (NBC); 56, "Project UFO," 9.0 (NBC); 57, "Saturday Night Movie: 'Animal 8.6 (CBS). Serving North Jersey The WKRP crew (from left, Jan Smithers, Richard Sanders, Loni Anderson and Tim Reid) record a commercial for their biggest spon-, sor, a funeral home, on Monday's episode of 'WKRP in 9:30 p.m., CBS Channel 2..